Agenda item

Report of Financial Services Manager.

Cabinet lead member: Councillor Gill Mattock.

Final outturn for 2015/16 agreed and transfer to reserves and provisions as set out in paragraphs 2.3 and 3.2 of report approved.

14.1 Cabinet considered the report of the financial services manager presenting the annual accounts and final budget outturn figures for the financial year ending 31 March 2016.  Under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2011 the deadline for the council to approve the annual accounts was 30 September, after the external audit had been completed. 

14.2 A report to cabinet on 25 May 2016 set out the provisional outturn for 2015/16.  The forecast was for a credit variance of £195,000 on service expenditure.  Since that time the work on closing the accounts had been completed and the final outturn confirmed.  The general fund service outturn was a favourable variance of £204,835.  The main change from the details of the service variances reported to the 25 May cabinet meeting related to an adjustment to the provision for bad debts relating to housing benefits overpayment, accrual adjustments for the building control management fee, the Steria IT contract and an increase in the legal fees chargeable to the housing revenue account.  The general fund balance at 31 March 2016 was £3.3m.  Details of other reserves were included in the accounts.

14.3 In addition to the transfers to and from reserves as approved by cabinet in May, a transfer of £575,381.51 had been made to the capital programme reserve in line with the budget strategy representing the balancing mechanism on capital financing costs.  This included savings on external interest payable due to the continued use of internal balances and the actual timing of capital spending incurred compared to the expected cash flow profile.

14.4 The housing revenue account (HRA) figure previously reported to the cabinet in May set out a favourable variance of £218,000. The final net expenditure for the year was a surplus of £527,929 a favourable variance against budget of £231,979, due to an accounting adjustment for capital funding from revenue.  The HRA balance as at 31 March 2016 was £3.7m.  In addition to the transfers to and from reserves approved by Cabinet on 25 May, a transfer of £793,000 had been made to the housing regeneration and investment reserve in line with the budget strategy and the 30 year housing business plan.  This represented the variance between the budgeted and actual depreciation allowance.

14.5 The final capital expenditure for the year was £18.0m compared to a revised budget of £19.9m a variance of £1.9m (general fund (£0.3m) and HRA (£2.2m)) or 9.5%. 

14.6 The outturn formed part of the draft statement of accounts reported to the audit and governance committee on 22 June 2016.  The committee would be asked to formally approve the accounts at their September meeting.  The draft statement of accounts was available on the council’s website and copies could be obtained from financial services.  An overview and key points of interest was given in appendix 1 to the report. 

14.7 It was the chief financial officer’s responsibility to ensure the preparation of the statement was in accordance with the CIPFA/LASAAC code of practice on local authority accounting in the United Kingdom. The council’s chief financial officer was also responsible for certifying that the accounts represented a true and fair view of the authority’s financial position by 30 June 2016.  The external auditor was due to commence work on 11 July and the accounts would be open for public inspection between 1 July and 11 August 2016.

14.8 Members congratulated the chief finance officer and his team for their work in preparing the accounts and highlighted the council’s consistent record of delivery.

14.9 Resolved (key decision): (1) That the final outturn for 2015/16 be agreed

(2) That the transfer to reserves and provisions as set out in paragraphs 2.3 and 3.2 of the report be approved.